Common Challenges in Business Partnerships

A common partnership snafu is that companies want partnership success, but don’t provide the resources to get there. I heard of a case where a whole marketing team quit, the partnerships team was given no marketing support, and they didn't yet have an integration with product -- and yet, the CEO expected the partnership strategy to deliver instant revenue. Wild. But not uncommon. Partnerships can't thrive in a vacuum. They need cross-functional support—marketing, product integration, sales enablement—all aligned to succeed. Before you set revenue targets for your partnerships, ask yourself: Do we have the resources to support them? If the answer is no, you have to help your leadership teams to reconsider their expectations. To help create the cross-functional support needed for partnerships to thrive, here are four strategies: 1. Involve Cross-Functional Leaders from the Very Beginning Bring key leaders from marketing, sales, and product into the partnership planning phase. Early involvement gives them a sense of ownership and ensures they understand how partnerships align with their own goals. Strategy: Schedule a kick-off meeting with stakeholders from each relevant department. Create a shared roadmap that outlines how partnerships will impact each team and their specific contributions. 2. Tie Partnership Success to Department KPIs To gain buy-in, tie partnership goals directly to the KPIs of each department. Aligning partnership outcomes with what each team is measured on ensures they have skin in the game. Strategy: During planning sessions, ask each department head how partnerships can contribute to their targets. Build specific KPIs for each function into the overall partnership strategy. 3. Create a Resource Exchange Agreement Formalize the support needed from each department with a resource exchange agreement. This sets clear expectations on what each function will contribute—whether it's a dedicated product team member for integrations or marketing resources for co-branded campaigns. It turns vague promises into commitments. Strategy: Draft a simple document that outlines the roles, responsibilities, and deliverables each team will provide, then get sign-off from department heads and the executive team. 4. Demonstrate Early Wins for Buy-In Quick wins go a long way toward securing ongoing resources. Identify a small pilot project with an internal team that shows immediate impact. Whether it's a small co-marketing campaign or a limited integration, these early successes build momentum and demonstrate the value of supporting partnerships. Strategy: Select one or two partners to run a pilot with, focused on delivering measurable outcomes like leads generated or product adoption. Use this success story to demonstrate value to other departments and secure further commitment. Partnership success requires cross-functional alignment. Because partnerships don’t happen in a silo.

Here’s the insane paradox of partnerships. Partner leaders can close million-dollar partnerships with virtual strangers. But somehow they can't get their own CEO to give them budget. The pattern is obvious… We build entire ecosystems from scratch with $0 budget. We MacGyver a deal out of paperclips and duct tape. We turn a cold email into a $2M partnership. But put us in a room with our own executives? Suddenly we're helpless victims. "My CEO doesn't get partnerships."  "We don't have budget for tools."  "Our goals are unrealistic." Hold up. The same person who convinces strangers to bet their business on you...  Can't convince their own team to give you resources? The same scrappy genius who builds partnerships from nothing...  Can't figure out how to get internal buy-in? That's not a partnerships problem. That's a priorities problem. Here's your action plan: The Problem: "My executives are misaligned" The Fix: Ask the right questions before you take the job. Understand the sandbox you'll be playing in. The Problem: "Sales/Marketing won't support me" The Fix: Show them what's in it for them. Stop asking for favors. Start creating wins. The Problem: "We don't have budget" The Fix: Prove ROI first. Build a P&L. Show the money to get the money. The Problem: "I don't have bandwidth" The Fix: Track everything you do. Cut the fluff. Focus on revenue-driving activities only. The Problem: "My goals are impossible" The Fix: Set better expectations upfront or find a company that gets it. We've turned complaining into an art form. Time to turn that energy into action. The same scrappiness that builds million-dollar partnerships? Use it internally. Treat your CEO like a prospect.  Treat your sales team like partners. Treat your budget like a deal you have to close. Because here's the uncomfortable truth: If you can't sell partnerships internally, you may not be around long enough to sell them externally. Stop making excuses. Start making moves. The future of partnerships isn't in the hands of executives or boards. It's in ours. Let's act like it.

A major challenge I’ve seen partner teams struggle with over the last 20 years: Prioritization. I’ve been in that boat. The one where the team is pulled in a million directions at once. It's because we're asked to: 😅 Manage a long tail of inbound partners - We must review them all! 💬 Recruit and onboard new partners 🎯 Build strategy and show partner market fit 📕Create enablement & certification programs 💵 Run co-marketing campaigns and MDF 💰 Drive deal registration & co-selling motions 📄 Manage partner plans and QBRs... ...On top of attending internal QBRs 👨💻 🖥 Influence product roadmap with partner feedback 🚨 Handle compliance, security, data, and reporting 🤝Align internally across Sales, Marketing, Product, CS, Finance, and the C-suite And a lot more... 🙂 ...With what is a typically small partnerships team. That's why partner teams often feel stretched thin. It doesn't have to be this way though. One of the best things a partnerships team can do is learn to say no. No to low impact projects. No to distractions that don't impact revenue. No to “nice to haves” that drain time and energy but don’t create real customer outcomes. Every "yes" has an opportunity cost. One of my favorite ways to make sure we say "yes" to the right partner initiatives: The 2x2 framework: High Impact / Low Effort → Do it now High Impact / High Effort → Plan & resource properly Low Impact / Low Effort → Quick wins if capacity allows Low Impact / High Effort → Deprioritize and cut Partnerships will always have more opportunities than capacity. It's our job to help the team focus on the right ones that move the needle.